Wanna come with me? “I suppose.”
Something flickered in his eyes, as if he were wrestling with a problem. Then the sparkle disappeared, and his grip loosened. “I should probably be getting home, too. I’l cal Ralph.”
So that was that. When he released her, the cool air of reason caressed her heated skin. Whether he was a playboy or not, he’d obviously decided against playing with her. Time to end this encounter, whatever it was. Time for Cinderel a to climb into her pumpkin coach and leave the bal .
Dancing with her had been a bad idea, but Aidan had figured he was about to be pul ed off the case and he’d wanted to see her dance in person just once.
Fortunately, she’d missed seeing him signal the band to play a fast number. She probably thought that was an accident.
No, he’d engineered the whole sequence, and now he had only himself to blame for his present sexual frustration, which could lead to some embarrassing and potential y dangerous consequences. As he rode back to her apartment with her in the cozy rear seat of the town car, the backs of his hands prickled and his tailbone itched.
He’d inherited a rare genetic condition that showed up only every second or third generation. If he happened to be in human form when he was aroused with no prospect of satisfaction, his body strained to shift instead, as a kind of compensation. An orgasm could calm him immediately and stop the process, but that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon.
He should have sent Emma home in the town car by herself. He could have cal ed Roarke to come and get him. Then again, maybe not. If Roarke had been driving his Ferrari and using the fuzz buster, he’d probably made it back to the family estate and was enjoying a recreational run through the woods by now.
Okay, so Roarke might not have been available, but there had been other options for Aidan, like commercial limos. Stil , he’d felt the need to see Emma safely home to her apartment. Once they were closed inside the backseat together, though, and his teeth ached with the need to sharpen and grow, he realized he was screwed, and not in a good way.
Worse yet, his chauffeur must have sensed that the air was thick with unmet sexual needs. Any werewolf would be able to pick up on that. That explained why Ralph kept his eyes on the road ahead and hadn’t attempted conversation. He might have thought coupling was about to happen in the back of the town car.
Aidan needed a distraction, and he needed it now. He glanced at Emma. “Do you have your phone with you?”
“My phone?” She seemed startled. “Yes, I do, but I turned it off before the signing and never turned it back on. Why?”
“Can you access your e-mail on it?” He knew damned Wellshe could, but he wasn’t supposed to know, so he had to play the game and ask.
“Yes, but—oh, I get it.” She unzipped her purse and pul ed out her BlackBerry.
“You want to see the e-mail from the creepy guy.”
“Just to get an idea of how hard it’l be to trace.” And to keep me from grabbing you and kissing you until you let me do whatever I want right here in the backseat of the town car.
That was the other part of the equation. Judging from the way she’d danced with him, the slightest bit of effort on his part would make her forget al about Dougie-boy. Knowing she wanted him while he could do nothing about it made the pressure to shift even worse. The beginnings of a pelt rubbed against his silk shirt.
“Sure. Just a sec.” She turned on the phone and waited for an Internet connection. Seconds later she handed him the phone. “Here it is.”
He gazed at the smal screen and forced himself to concentrate on the words there instead of al owing her scent to pul him into a sensual whirlpool from which there would be no escape. Once they started down that road, they wouldn’t stop until they’d wrung each other out. The dancing had told him that.
If he’d wanted her a little less, he might chance making love to her tonight. That had been his criterion from his first sexual encounter, at the age of sixteen. He’d indulge only if he knew they could both walk away at the end of the affair. He’d been able to tel his Were lovers he would have to make a political match someday and therefore couldn’t get serious. They’d always understood that.
For his human lovers, and he’d had a few, he’d chosen women who were too focused on their careers to think about settling down with one guy. They’d been attractive and sexy, but not a single one had affected him the way Emma did. And he hadn’t even taken her to bed yet.
Yet. The word flashed like a neon sign in his brain. Had he actual y thought such a ridiculous thing? The word yet implied that he saw taking her to bed as inevitable.
He didn’t. Damn it, he didn’t.
He could beat this attraction, no matter how strong it seemed now. Just because he wanted to rip that red dress from her body and explore every inch of her soft skin didn’t mean that he would. Just because he longed to stroke her pert br**sts until—
“Can you see it okay?” she asked. “I can make the text bigger if you need me to.”
“Thanks, but I can see it just fine. I’m thinking.” His eyesight was far better than she would ever know. And he hadn’t lied. He had been thinking, just not about the e-mail in front of him. As a result, his pelt had grown even thicker. When he transformed, his fur was deep brown tipped with silver, and he was afraid that some silver fur might be sticking out of the open neck of his dress shirt already.
Once again he focused on the e-mail, and this time he was able to actually read the damned thing.
Hey, babe, I can tell from the way you write about werewolves that you dig them. Girl, you need to get it on with a real werewolf, and I’m the one to show you the ropes. Write back and I’ll meet you whenever and wherever you say. Until then, think of me as always—
Ready Fur U
Aidan growled.
“Aidan? Are you okay?”
Shit! He’d growled, and she’d heard him! He made a big production of clearing his throat before he turned to answer her. “I felt like I had something stuck in my throat.
It’s gone now.”
She laughed. “You clearing your throat sounds a lot like a Doberman guarding the front door.”
She couldn’t know how close she’d come to describing exactly how he felt. Some a**hole was trying to make contact with her for the purpose of sex. Aidan no longer cared whether the guy was a werewolf or only pretending to be so he could meet her. Aidan would track him to his lair, wherever that might be, and put him out of commission.
Emma’s laughter faded. “You’re looking real y fierce right now. In fact, you’re scaring me a little.”
Immediately he offered her his most winning smile and hoped to hel his canines didn’t look too frightening yet. “Sorry. It’s just that I hate guys who use the Internet to harass women.”
“Do you think you can find out where he is?”
“Absolutely. And I don’t want to wait until tomorrow to start the process.” As Ralph pul ed up in front of her building, Aidan reached inside his suit jacket and took out another card. “If you’l send the e-mail to that address, I’l get on it tonight.”
Unwittingly he’d created a great cover for the fact that his guys were already working on the trace.
“Now that we’re at my place, why not come up to my loft and use my computer? I’l make coffee.”
God, did she have any idea what she was saying? He thought maybe she did.
Lust shone in her blue eyes. She knew exactly what she was saying, and Doug had mental y been kicked to the curb.
He clenched his back teeth together to keep himself from saying yes. ... Yes to the invitation, yes to the coffee, and yes to the sex that would definitely take place if he stepped foot inside her apartment. He might be able to accomplish the deed without her noticing that he’d become unusual y hairy.
But he wouldn’t do it. Roarke was going to be so proud of him. “Thanks, but you need sleep, and I can work better on my own equipment.” Saying that nearly kil ed him, but he felt noble as hel .
“But—”
“Seriously, it’s important to accomplish this, and it’l al go faster at my place.”
Which would be his office instead of his apartment, but she didn’t have to know that. “I’l e-mail you the results when I’m done so you’l have the information in the morning and can pass it on to Jenny.”
“Okay.” The word was drenched in frustration and disappointment.
Hel , she seriously wanted him to spend the night with her. And he wasn’t going to.
Roarke should give him a damned medal.
“We’l wait here while you let yourself in and go upstairs,” he said. “Leave your phone on, and if there’s any problem when you get up there, cal me.” He pul ed his phone out of his jacket and turned it on. “I can be there in no time.”
She gazed at him. “Sure you won’t come up?”
His tail was growing and beginning to bush out. “I’m sure.”
“Then I probably won’t see you again until the next book comes out.”
“Guess not.” He doubted he’d be at her next signing. He could get a book autographed through Roger Claymore. That would be a safer option.
“Thanks for a terrific evening.” Before he could stop her, she leaned forward and kissed him ful on the mouth. Then she scrambled quickly out of the car, out of his reach, and closed the door.
His mouth felt branded by hers, and he wanted more, much more.
Ralph chuckled. “Guess you have something stuck in your throat again.”
“Listen, Ralph, old buddy. You’d growl, too, if you—”
“Yeah, I know, Aidan. You get major points for not going up there.”
“Mmm.” Aidan kept his eye on her window until he saw the light go on. Then his phone rang and he immediately answered. “What?”
“Just wanted you to know that everything’s fine. Good night, Aidan.”
“Good night, Emma.” He disconnected the phone and closed his eyes. “Drop me off in the park, Ralph. And step on it.”
Ralph quickly navigated into traffic. “The park’s risky. Let me take you north to the estate.”
“No. Can’t afford the time.” Aidan gritted his teeth and fought the shift that was coming whether he wanted it to or not. “I want to make sure the guys are working on that e-mail trace.”
“You’re the boss.” Ralph wove in and out of traffic.
As they neared the park, Aidan began pul ing off his clothes. “If I run for a while, I should be able to shift back in an hour or so. Wait for me.”
“Wil do.” Ralph drove into Central Park and cruised along slowly. “How’s this?”
“Good. Not much light. Give me three minutes to finish shifting, and then come around and open the door for me.”
“Al right.” Ralph didn’t sound happy about it, but he would do what Aidan asked.
In exactly three minutes, the back door of the town car opened. Aidan leaped out and began to run, his paws scattering the remnants of snow left on the ground. He would run until he was exhausted. Maybe then he wouldn’t want Emma with the fierceness only an alpha male could feel toward a woman who’d awakened his instinct to mate.
Chapter 4
Doug cal ed at eight, waking Emma from a hot dream that involved Aidan and a grassy knol . Aidan was licking up drops of the coffee martini he’d poured al over her nak*d body and she was ... delirious.
She would have loved to find out what happened after that, and now she’d never know. She must have sounded as annoyed as she felt, because Doug immediately became contrite.
“Bad turnout last night, huh?”
“No. Why would you think that?”
His tone changed. “Because you’re in a crappy mood.”
“You woke me up, Doug. I haven’t had coffee yet.”
“Woke you up? It’s past eight.”
Barely. Emma rol ed her eyes. Doug kept regular hours and had never quite adjusted to the fact she didn’t. “I slept in.”
“Did you and your mom stay out late last night, then?”
“No, Mom had to leave right after the signing, so I went for a drink with one of my fans.” There, she’d said it. She hadn’t exactly told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, but she’d thrown out a piece of information that was correct as far as it went.
“I’l bet you made her evening, too. See, if I’d gone, you wouldn’t have felt free to do that, and I’m sure you girls had a great time sipping umbrel a drinks and talking about sexy werewolves.”
If Doug had cal ed at nine, after Emma had brewed herself some coffee and consumed a cup or two, she might not have reacted so adversely to that patronizing remark. But he’d cal ed at eight, when she was involved in a most excel ent dream of passion and sexual adventure with a man who made her current boyfriend look like a dweeb. She was at least a quart low on caffeine, and come to think of it, her boyfriend was a dweeb.
“You know what, Doug? I just decided we should take a break from each other.”
“What?”
“A break. A hiatus. A sabbatical. It’s perfect timing because you’re heading into tax season and I’m leaving on a book tour Friday morning.”
“Emma, don’t do this. I know you wanted me to show up last night, but the meeting was important. A couple of members are thinking of giving me their corporate business, and that would be huge.”
“This isn’t about last night.” And it real y wasn’t. It was about this morning. Well, it might be about last night, but not in the way he thought. She might not be able to have Aidan Wal ace, but she could start looking around for someone who was more exciting than Doug.
Because of her heavy writing schedule, she’d al owed herself to settle for someone who was near at hand, even if he did virtual y nothing for her sexual y.